UPLAND — Even perched just on the edge of a tall chair on the baseline, Hallie Bryant maintains the warmth of a performer.

The Harlem Globetrotter legend sits surrounded by more than 200 attentive faces in Taylor University's Odle Arena. For a man well past 70, he's less spry than he once was (a pinched nerve in his hip has him in the chair), but his voice and mind seem to have lost no pep. He shouts adages about teamwork and positive thinking, takes questions, gets kids involved and delivers an array of messages about team and individual harmony to the young players at Taylor's boys basketball camp.

"You find that people are people wherever you go," said Bryant of lessons learned with the Globetrotters. "And every adult has a little child in them and every child has a little adult in them."

It might seem odd, a former Globetrotter and ball-handling artist chatting with kids in an NAIA gym in the middle of summer, but this is nothing new for Bryant. Tuesday morning marked the 58th year in a row he's made the trip to Upland for the camp.

The Globetrotters allowed Bryant to see the world after a successful prep and college career in Indiana, but he always found himself returning to Taylor. He played 13 years for the team and worked for it in other capacities for 14 more, attaining the honor of "Legend" with the likes of Wilt Chamberlain and Meadowlark Lemon.

And the reason Bryant kept returning for a day at the four-week camp is linked to the name adorning Taylor's arena.

Hallie Bryant in 1957.(Photo: Star file photo)

Bryant starred at Crispus Attucks High School in Indianapolis, just preceding NBA Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson. Bryant led the team to the state final four in 1951, won Mr. Basketball two seasons later and then played at Indiana University, winning a Big 10 title in 1957.

But at the end of his college career, before a quick stint in the military, Bryant first heard from Taylor coach Don Odle and then-Lafayette Jefferson coach Marion Crawley.

"Coach Odle knew about Hallie Bryant being Mr. Basketball," Bryant said. "So they thought I would be a good subject to bring up to talk to the kids, put on a little demonstration. That inspired me to share some of the things I learned.

"Share with the kids so maybe they can pass it on, like I've been passing it on."

He went on to a short stint of army service and the Globetrotters, but he just never stopped coming back to Upland.

Each year, he'd talk to players, share knowledge and usually delight them with a demonstration of ball-handling tricks. Those have scaled back as he's gotten on in years (when asked his age, he joked it was between 8 and 97). But he can still break out a few things, balancing the ball on the top of his hand and bringing campers into a rendition of the Globetrotters' famed magic circle drill.

And Bryant's annual pilgrimage harkens back to Taylor's athletic past and even something deeper.

"The history of the program and really basketball in the state of Indiana," said Trojans men's basketball coach Josh Andrews, only the program's third coach since the late 1940s. "His pedigree is hard to match. But he's been a staple here at the camp. ... The campers look forward to hearing from him."

Taylor athletic director Angie Fincannon added: "At Taylor, we do things a long time. When we get a hold of something good, we don't let go of it very easy."

Bryant was presented with a plaque Tuesday as part of a short ceremony because after nearly six decades, there were rumblings this could be his last time at the camp. With the uncertainty, there was a sense the program should celebrate him now rather than risk it not working out in coming years.

But Bryant hardly sounded like a man doing this for the last time.

"Even if you did 70, 80, 100 years, you'd never really let go of it," Bryant said, adding he might make it back next year. "But you want to pass it on. You look back and be thankful you were able to share some things that helped other people and helped yourself too."